After working with the Fisheries Department of the Agriculture Ministry for two years, Carana Agriculture Development Project is set to export more than twenty-two thousand pounds of Tambaki to the United States of America (USA). Carana is an aquaculture farm located at Bushy Park, West Coast Berbice.
During a visit to the farm on October 18, 2016, Specialist Ray DeWandel explained that the farm sells about five thousand pounds of farm-raised Tambaki on the local market and is preparing to make its first shipment of 22,000 pounds of filleted Tambaki to the United States of America at a cost of US$5 per pound, a Government information Agency (GINA) release stated.
“In order to get 22,000 pounds of product to sell, we need approximately 66,000 pounds of fish, so next month we will be embarking on harvesting 66,000 pounds of fish, cutting them into fillet, putting them into boxes, freezing them and then sending them into the USA,” De Wandel explained.
The farm employs 10 persons from the area on a full-time basis and another 50 part-time employees to assist with processing. It is currently working with local farmers to develop a hatchery from which it will source Tambaki fingerlings. The fish is native to Brazil.
“Any demand that can’t be made locally then we go to Brazil and bring them (fingerlings) in from Roraima State,” De Wandel said.
Permanent Secretary at the Agriculture Ministry, George Jarvis, congratulated the aquaculture farm proprietors for their success and pledged the continued support of the Ministry for the venture.
“I am also pleased that the fisheries department of the Ministry of Agriculture has been working closely with you and I will pledge the support of not only the fisheries department, but all the departments and agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture, to work with you to ensure that your project is successful and I urge you to share your success with other farmers,” Jarvis said.
According to GINA, the farm currently operates on about 25 acres of land, which De Wandel sees as a pilot project to be expanded to a full-fledged operation of 200-300 acres of ponds and processing facilities.
Meanwhile, Jeoffrey Fraser, a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College, now Gueph University, and owner of the Bushy Park Estate, said he has been involved in several agricultural projects previously but, readily agreed to partner with De Wandel in the aquaculture business because of its potential to be transformative.
“We had several projects at Bushy Park. We had poultry, hogs, etc. I was very happy to have met Ray and Patrick Henry. They are the ones that approached me… If this project gets off the ground, I have no doubt that over time, once infrastructure has been put in, it certainly can change the landscape for a lot of people in Guyana in producing fish,” Fraser said.
The Government through the various arms of the Agriculture Ministry has been encouraging agricultural diversification as a means of mitigating the challenges posed to food production by climate change.
Aquaculture is a process by which fish and other marine species are reared in a controlled environment. It is a means of sustainably producing fish for human consumption as oceanic fish stock becomes depleted due to climate change and pollution.
